New charter aims to put dignity and respect at heart of local services

Disabled campaigners have launched a new charter that aims to persuade organisations – and individuals – in their local area to treat people with dignity and respect.

Ken and
Tracy McClymont have spent four years working on the Dudley Dignity Charter,
which lists 10 key principles for how people should be treated, focusing on areas
such as communication, privacy, choice, control, advocacy and fairness.

The couple
have spent years seeking the views of disabled people in Dudley on what should
be in the charter, by visiting council-run community forums, day centres, youth
clubs for disabled young people, libraries and the local hospital.

They were
told how disabled people were being rushed by care workers who had to hurry to
their next appointment; how service-providers were failing to listen to what
service-users were telling them and not giving them time to explain their
needs; and how schools were failing to provide support to their disabled pupils,
among many other examples of disabled people not being treated with dignity and
respect.

Patterns
soon began to emerge from what they were being told, which they worked into the
charter’s 10 key principles.

The
McClymonts now plan to take the charter “out on the road”, explaining its 10
principles by running stands at local events and locations such as supermarkets
and libraries.

They also
hope – by setting up a new Dudley Dignity Council – to be able to monitor the
implementation of the charter, hold service-users to account, and even award
dignity charter marks to organisations that show a commitment to the 10 principles.

Ken
McClymont, who chairs Dudley CIL, said: “Dignity is something we all want,
along with respect, but it is a very hard thing for people to explain and
define.”

He said he was “buoyed up” by the launch event (pictured), which was attended by three of the four local MPs, the council’s deputy leader and chief executive, and representatives of the local transport authority, mental health trust and the three emergency services.

He added: “This
charter is unique in that it has been created by the local people themselves.

“We do hope
that many local people, businesses, voluntary groups and others with connections
to the borough will sign up to the charter to encourage everyone to make
dignity a thing of importance.

“We all want
to be treated with dignity and respect, and hope that this charter will start a
conversation.”

Cllr Judy Foster, deputy leader of Dudley council,
said: “It is an honour and a privilege to have joined those at the
Dudley Dignity Charter launch event today.

“By working
together, we can rightly put dignity at the heart of care here in Dudley
borough.

“The charter
has been over four years in the making and it is a testament to the dedication
and hard work of everyone at Dudley Centre for Inclusive Living and Disability
in Action.”